Dress to express, not to impress

Tag Archives: John Galliano

I really respect the fact that some people have their signature style. Minimalist, avant garde, preppy, whatever they call their thing. But as for me, if there is something that I love about fashion, it’s the fact that I can be whoever and whatever I wanna be through the clothes I wear. If you’ve been a constant reader of this blog, you will notice how my style changes from time to time. I dress according to what I wanna be or whatever I feel inside my gut. If I wanna look smart, I dress smart. If I wanna be a punk, I put edge in every piece of apparel on my body. Fashion is so powerful that it can change a person’s image, manifest the feelings of someone and be a source of empowerment to anybody. As for now, I’m feeling inspired by punk and Harajuku street style. Creativity and diversity overflow in the area and it is such a beautiful site to see whenever I go there.

Carey asked me to join her Confirmation and since it’s a Catholic gathering, she told me to wear my Sunday best. And what’s the best way to go to church than to wear slacks, a simple plain buttoned down shirt and a nice pair shoes plus a silver watch and a bag to carry the essentials. Clean, sleek and a watch- this is not something that you always see me wearing. I remember when I stepped out of my room, my mom’s brows rose up to the ceiling and uttered, “what happened to you?” Even Carey told me that she was shocked when he saw me wearing something toned down with almost no colors. Well, what really happened? I don’t know. Maybe it’s a miracle from heaven or I’m just living up to Leonardo Da Vinci’s words now: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

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I remember when I was 10 and visited Japan for the first time, I was so amazed with this country. The cleanliness, the high-end technology, the punctuality and courtesy of the Japanese people- everything about Japan was so perfect for me that I begged my mom to let me stay and live here with her. She wanted to do the same thing but my grandparents didn’t allow it because they would be alone once I leave our house back in Manila. It was a love-at-first-sight situation with Japan. I loved everything about it…except for one thing.

During my first visit until my early days of living here in Japan, I found Japanese fashion bizarre. I didn’t get the way they dress here. The androgyny, the normality of love for luxury brands, the mismatch of prints, materials and textures, the peculiar hairdos that looked like it took them hours to finish- all of the above and much more make this country look like it’s a different planet. I really didn’t get it at first and as a result, I was either making fun of their outlandishness or I get annoyed seeing them in the streets with their disturbing looks and larger-than-life accessories. But then, as time went by, it just grew in me like a spider web. Little by little, I learned to accept and, eventually, like Japanese fashion. I’ve embraced the truth that this is a part of an evolution of their modern culture. The Japanese, especially the youth, has their individual way of expressing themselves when it comes to clothing which gave birth to new subcultures in fashion. Currently, we have the lolita, maid and gyaru genres to mention a few, all of them are unique in their own ways but totally Japanese in a modern sense.

Japan naturally injects fashion in the air which made me love everything about it. In Japan, I discovered that I have the ability to be whatever or whoever I wanna be through fashion. I learned that there is fun in expressing one’s feelings through your clothes and all you need is courage and the strength (and yeah, the budget) to do it. And since your look is an expression of who you are or how you are feeling, you start to love yourself more and more. Well, that’s my case. Unlike my mom who has been living here for more or less 15 years, she still can’t stand why Japanese fashion has to be the way it is.

Apparently, the fashion scene here in Japan is so popular that it even became a reason why people want to come and visit. Harajuku is well-known all over the world for being the cradle of Japanese fashion. It’s a sanctuary of fashionistas regardless of their styles. Minimal, hip-hop, hobo, vintage, street style- name it and you can see each one strutting in the catwalks of this area. It just breathes and lives fashion which sometimes makes a person think there is a fine line separating maximalism and exhibitionism. Whenever they visit Harajuku, tourists can’t stop themselves from asking these young Japanese fashionistas to have their photos with them. Living here for 5 years made me love fashion so much to the extent that I became fashionably eccentric myself. I have my fair share of attention-grabbing moments because of my clothes. Like last week, I wore this pink ensemble to drop by my friend’s gig in La Foret Museum. I was walking along the streets when some groups of Thai and European visitors and asked me to have my photos taken or have theirs taken with me. Thinking about it makes me feel hat I FINALLY belong in Japan. Yet when it comes to language capabilities, my Nihonggo will put my belongingness rate down to zero percent.

This is my friend, Nicola. I, together with her other close friends, call her Niki for short. She’s from bloody England, for goodness’ sake!!!!

She was a former super model/performer who used to travel all around the world for fashion shows and performances. She has been to Paris, Sydney, Seoul, New York and other cities and had performed for different internationally world-renowned companies. Now, she works as a part-time modeling teacher and events coordinator for John Robert Powers in Tokyo.

We worked together for two years and we’ve seen the ups and downs of each other, both in career and personal life. I must say that she is one of my best friends here in Japan. She is a woman of strength, character and talent. I strongly believe that she is my female version, only a few years more chronologically gifted than I am. We share the same passion for dancing, music, dancing and everything related to the performing arts. Before, she used to teach all of the classes that I currently have under my wings. She strongly believes in my talent as much as I believe in the strength of her character. I think we complement each other so much.

These are her shots courtesy of yours truly. These were taken in the Babasaki avenue in Marunouchi area after having a farewell lunch for our friend, Dharini who is scheduled to leave for Melbourne on the 9th of next month. She asked me to take some of her photos because she just got her haircut a day before that day. She wanted a new profile photo for her Facebook account.

Blurred edge.

Black and white effect. This is my favorite among the shots!

And as a way to return the favor, she also took shots of me.

I love these flowers! They remind me of Takahashi Murakami.

When Niki saw this Emporio Armani ad, she immediately asked me to do the same pose. It was hilarious!

Hola! I am back and I am here to babble. But tonight’s gonna be a little dramatic. I was in the middle of the train when I found myself thinking of these thoughts. You still have time to back off if you don’t wanna read something as heavy as this. Fine! I’m giving you like 10 seconds to stare on this picture. After that, you may scroll down if you wanna carry on or push the exit button to eject yourself from here. Timer starts now.

Cashmere sweater by United Colors of Benetton, shorts by Forever 21, vintage socks and leggings, shoes by Timberland, bag by John Galliano

Fine! You chose to carry on. Please don’t get annoyed with all of this shit that I’ve written here. Here it goes

From this day onwards, I shall never ever depend my happiness to others. I will never ever look for it in the image of another person but I shall seek it to the deepest trenches of my heart. I know that when we were born in this world, God planted this seed of true happiness in our hearts and it is up to us on how we will make it yield. There are many and various ways in fertilizing this seed, maybe each person differs from another but it is definitely there. It resides there, waiting for you to realize that it exists within you.

I’ve been sad for many reasons and I found my way out from all of the misery through other people. I went out, got drunk and made my whole system numb from all the pains through alcohol, searched other people who I thought would fill all the emptiness in my soul. I thought I was satisfied. I thought I was already happy with other people. But then, whenever I went back to my bed at night, I would still feel alone and it never felt good.

Now, I promise to love myself more than ever before. I shall find ways to be happy on my own, as much as possible, without the help from others. This is not a matter of pride, it is a matter of proving myself to my own self. I am already sick from all the chains, holding my legs and arms. I am tired of finding my happiness in the image of other people. I wanna find happiness within me. I wanna know how it feels like to be jubilant without being obliged to be grateful to another person. I am tired of owing anything from another person. I wanna be more independent in terms of being happy.

And for me to achieve this, I shall do my best to achieve the following.

* Learn and do things for myself.
* Learn to stop pleasing others for their own satisfaction and
* Say things that I want and have to say to people who should hear.

I shall find what I am looking for and I shall be ok. From that moment that I find happiness in me, then I shall be stronger.

Yesterday, I decided to meet my friend, Carey, in Shibuya for some coffee and window shopping. Since I was wearing something fierce yesterday, Carey decided to have some photos of me. I posed like a model in the middle of those busy streets without minding the Jap’s weird looks at me. It was crazy. Then the crazier things happened.

As we were already on our way to find a Starbucks, a group of people approached us and asked if it was ok to have an interview. Though I was a little hesitant because my Japanese is limited as hell, my natural vanity and love for attention overpowered me. So I said yes to the interview with a promise that they would translate some stuff for me if ever my Japanese comprehension wouldn’t work.

Here are some pictures to share while the interview was on-going. They were taken by Carey herself. This is the side view. Yes! I was wearing a white tank top in fall while everyone is starting put on long sleeves for autumn. Crazy me! I just hope that I won’t end up having a cold.

This is a farther shot so that everyone can see the very beautiful silver lining accent of my leggings.

A so-so frontal shot, along with the camera man and a PA. The male PA’s were really cute too.

Then, we found out that the group of media people are from NHK Japan. FYI, NHK is the biggest TV station of all in the Land of the Rising Sun. I can still remember that it watching in cable TV in the Philippines before when I was 12. They interviewed my about the common problems in a relationship among junior and senior high school students in Japan. The questions from them and my answers are all written below.

* Is it ok for me if my lover looks at my cellphone?

It’s fine as long as he asks permission from me.

* Is it ok for me if my lover usually checks on my whereabouts every other time?

It’s fine as long as he doesn’t check on me like every minute or every hour. That’s annoying.

* Will I erase an email address of a friend if my lover asked me to do so?

If he gives me a reason to do so, then I will. But he has to give me a very reasonable one because if he doesn’t we can just forget about it.

* Will I forgive my lover after hurting me physically and verbally?

No because after that, we’re over. When trust is gone and a hand is laid on someone, that’s the time to let go of the relationship.

* Advice to those teenagers in a love relationship

If you really love a person, then you can have full trust on him. Once it is gone, then you can end the relationship. Remember that love, trust and communication are the keys to a good relationship.

The interview was a mixture of English and Japanese and it was really a bizarre! I was struggling in both languages- Japanese because everyone knows what a dumb ass I am in the language and English because I was so conscious that if I speak English in a very natural way, those people wouldn’t be able to understand what I was saying. In short, I flunked that interview. Anyway, I’ll charge it to experience. LOL!

And my favorite shot? Here it is.

knitted shawl by Topman, tank top by GAP, vintage leggings, boots by ABC mart, sunglasses by Marc Jacobs and bag by John Galliano

The said the interview’s gonna air on November 6, 2010, Saturday, 9pm at Channel 1 (NHK). I don’t think they’ll be including my interview in the program but who knows? Maybe they’ll have an interest about a foreigner who’s all lost in translation and what he can say about relationships. LOL! Crazy me!

Shibuya is crazy and I love it. It roars like tigers at night. And I don’t even know what I am saying anymore. Haha! Ecstatic much? Hahaha!

When I was little, 9 years old I guess, I wanted to have a Japanese Lancel bag.

my sister's landsele bag which she has been using for six years

These are the bags that Japanese elementary pupils always use. I’ve never seen one child break the status quo that this bags set. Now, it makes me wonder if there is such a law that prohibits children here in Japan to bring other bags than these. Anyways, I wanted to have those when I was a little kid but during my elementary years and I would always beg my mom to buy me one of those but sadly, she didn’t. During those times, landsele bags would cost your arm and leg like ¥30,000 ($300). Knowing how stingy my mother was, I let go of the dream of having one but my mom gave me something which was, well, something I liked. It was something like this.

My red backpack wasn't exactly a Jansport but it was as cool as having one...

My mom gave me a red back pack as a consolation (I guess) and it wasn’t a bad bag for my age. So when my classmates then saw it, they got really wide-eyed and asked where I bought it. However, after using it for like a month, it got stolen inside my campus. Everything was taken even my notebooks and my pencil case inside. It was one of my biggest heartbreaks in life, losing something that really is beautiful for me.

Since that day, I realized I am a bag addict. I just love bags just like girls love them. Bags are powerful! Men have hands that are used to carry things around but usually, they are not enough that’s why they created bags. They need to have everything they need (or even they don’t need but they want to carry with them) within reach thats why they have bags. Take a look of what’s inside my Fred Perry ecology bag which I got for free from a magazine. That’s what they usually do here in Japan to attract consumers- put an ecology bag of a famous designer which the consumers can get for free when they buy the magazine.

My Fred Perry economy bag I use whenever I go to work.

A peak of what trash you can find inside

When I was in the Philippines, I was never fascinated with all the luxury designer bags have to offer. But since I started living here in Tokyo, I experienced metanoia. I sooooooo now love designer bags!!! I wanted to have a single piece of bag from each luxurious brand. Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Hermes- I want to have a bag from each label. I want a bag that suits every occasion. I want a bag that suits the current season. I want a bag that suits every clothing that I wear. I want bags!!! I’m so addicted to them.

Currently, I have a bunch in my possession. I think I have like 8 bags in my list, most of them are non-designer ones.

the ultimate Hermes Birkin Bag which I am planning to buy before I become 35

Oh well! That’s why I work hard- to buy everything I want. And indeed, I have to work harder if these are the bags that I wanna have. I am still young and I have a long way to run. At the same time, I have a lot of time to save more money for these very costly stuffs.